Creating First Synthetic Life Form

Work on the world's first human-made species is well under way at a research complex in Rockville, Md., and scientists in Canada have been quietly conducting experiments to help bring such a creature to life.
Robert Holt, head of sequencing for the Genome Science Centre at the University of British Columbia, is leading efforts at his Vancouver lab to play a key role in the production of the first synthetic life form -- a microbe made from scratch.

Slashdot reports this is not the first group to venture into this territory:
"MSNBC is running a story about bioengineering organisms to do specific tasks such as produce hydrogen or ethenol. Some of the scientists involved are saying it's more of an art instead of a science due to its 'biohacking' style of experimentation."